This 78-year-old has been beating the drums for a puja in Darjeeling for 59 years without a break. The community puja is in its 96th year and he wants to continue at least till the centenary year.

Kohor Singha at the Durga puja pandal in Tindharia. He first came here when he was 19.(HT Photo)

As an individual, Kohor Singha, 78 and frail, must be one of the loudest ‘voices’ against Gorkhaland. A resident of Jalpaiguri, Singha braved the agitation and indefinite shutdown to travel more than 50 km to Tindharia in the hills to beat the drums -- popularly referred to as dhaks in Bengal -- during Durga puja.

Singha, a farmer, who has been beating the drums for this community puja in the hills for the 59th year without a break, says he would have performed his duty even if the bandh was not called off from the morning of September 27, the second day of Durga puja.

The Durga and Kali Puja Organisation Committee is in its 96th year, and Singha has vowed to continue performing his ‘duty’ at least till the centenary year, come what may.

“I have seen three rounds of Gorkhaland movement, the most violent being the one in the mid eighties in which hundreds lost their lives. The latest one broke all records with a 104 days of strike. If the Tindharia youths could organise puja despite the odds, I am sure no power can prevent my participation as well,” Singha told HT.

A dhak is heavy and drummers are often asked to carry it on his shoulder for at least 30 mins at a stretch, several times a day, for five days on the trot. But Singha is not perturbed.

This year, on September 21, he begged for a ride uphill until he managed a drop to Tindharia to enquire about the puja and speak to the organisers about his duty during the pujas. He has again gone back to the hills to beat the drum for the Kali puja on Thursday.

“The Durga and Kali Puja have become a part of my life. I would perform my duty here till I breathe my last. No agitation can prevent me from this duty,” said Singha.

“We were surprised when ailing Kaku reached Tindharia on September 21 on his own. He managed to reach though only a few vehicles were plying on the hills during the bandh,” said Nauraj Chettri, the secretary of the organising committee.

Singha’s dedication can be traced to his association with the community puja. He first beat the dhaks at this pandal when he was 19, when he came here with his father. The school Brahma Mandir Prathamik Pathsala, where the puja is organised, was established in 1917 by the Bengalis most of them whom use to work for Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.